Stuck in the Mud
by DonaldDouglasandToby6
Summary: In another Emily adventure, she collects honey for The Vicar of Wellsworth, but gets stuck in some mud along the way.


One day, Emily arrived at the Vicarage Orchard to take some honey to the Docks to be shipped to other countries.

Trevor was waiting for Emily by the fence.

"There you are!" called Trevor gladly. "We need you to deliver the honey to the Docks! And when you come back, you can take the bees to a field full of flowers so the bees can make some honey!"

Emily smiled.

"Of course, Trevor." and a workman coupled her up to some trucks full of honey.

It had been raining heavily for the last week, and some of the tracks had been covered in mud.

Trevor suddenly remembered something, and whistled to get Emily's attention.

"What is it?" asked Emily

"Be careful! You don't want to be stuck in the mud! Once you get stuck in that stuff, it's almost impossible to get out!"

"I'll keep that in mind." replied Emily and the guard blew his whistle and waved his green flag.

Emily blew her whistle and set off.

Emily was having a wonderful journey along the Wellsworth branch line. The birds flew above Emily, and deer ran all over the place.

"Gee, isn't the forest nice after a rainstorm! Everything looks so green and clean." observed Emily.

"Not to mention muddy... We best be careful." added the driver.

Emily steamed through Suddery and puffed past a signalbox. She whistled "hello" to the signalman.

But little did she know that the signalman had fallen asleep and that her whistling has woken him up.

The points weren't yet set to the Docks; instead they were sent to the Loop Line.

"Oh no! Emily's not supposed to go down that way!" But it was too late; Emily was too far away to bring her back.

Emily approached some tracks that were completely covered with water and mud. The rails were saggy, and couldn't take the weight of an engine. Emily gasped.

"Driver, put the brakes on! We're about to get stuck in the-" Just then, Emily splashed into the muddy water.

"...mud." groaned Emily.

The driver groaned.

"Ugh, why do those stupid signalmen always fall asleep?"

Then Emily remembered the honey. "Oh dear! I hope it isn't spoiled..."

All of a sudden, a whistle was heard and a Great Western Pannier tank could be seen in the distance.

"Duck! Oh. thank goodness! Please, help me!"

Duck looked down and saw Emily.

"How did you get down there?" asked Duck.

"I was sent down the wrong track and then I got stuck. Can you help?"

Duck knew he couldn't pull Emily out of the mud, but he also knew that he couldn't just leave Emily stuck.

"I know!" called Duck, "I'll fetch Derek! He'll be strong enough to pull you back on the rails."

"Hurry! I think I'm sinking!" said Emily and Duck puffed off to Wellsworth, where Derek was taking a goods train from Tidmouth to Brendam.

"Derek! Derek!" panted Duck.

"What is it?" asked Derek worriedly.

"Emily is stuck in the mud!" explained Duck.

"Oh dear. I'm not really good at rescuing engines. My cooling system would overheat."

"Forget your cooling system! You've got to rescue Emily!" cried Duck.

"Oh dear, this must be urgent! Alright." muttered Derek and he left his trucks onto a siding. Then he raced off to find Emily.

"Help! Help!" wailed Emily and blew her whistle as loud as the driver could make it.

The crew got out of the cab and climbed onto the top while the guard slowly walked along the vans and got to the cab with the crew.

Together, they waved their arms as hard as they could. Derek heard the frantic whistle and raced to the rescue.

"Goodness me! What on Sodor happened to you?"

"I was sent down the wrong line and here I am in the sticky mud. Can pull me out please?"

Derek smiled.

"Of course!"

Derek's driver attached a chain between the two engines.

Derek heaved as hard as he could.

"*grunt* Come on! Come on! Oh, my system better not fail on me!"

Derek's wheels started to slip, so his sandboxes started to put sand on the rails.

"Almost... got... it..." he panted. Suddenly he felt hot, but he was determined to help his friend. Emily felt her front wheels touch solid ground.

"You're doing it! You're doing it!" she gasped. Derek pulled as he had never pulled before.

"Almost... Yes!" Derek shouted, as he saw Emily was out of the mud. Emily sighed with relief.

"Thanks, Derek."

"No problem." said Derek, "Now I better get my train."

Derek scurried away and Emily steamed off.

Emily raced off to the Docks, where the Fat Controller, Jem Cole, and the Vicar were waiting.

"There you are!" called Jem and the Vicar in unision.

"Where were you?" asked the Fat Controller.

"Another signalman fell asleep, sir." replied Emily's driver.

The Fat Controller groaned.

"Ugh, these signalmen... Oh well. I'll fire him in no time flat. A fine piece of work Derek."

"Thank you sir," grinned Derek and he raced over to some China clay trucks.

"Duck helped me with the rescue sir. He deserves some credibility for the rescue." said Emily.

"I'll be sure to congratulate Duck too then." the Fat Controller said.

Just then, Jeremy flew past.

"Uh oh... I better get to the Sodor Airport quickly. My mother's visiting from England." and the Fat Controller drove away.

Emily sighed and puffed off to the washdown.

At the washdown, the men had to work hard to get the mud off of Emily.

Just then, James arrived alongside.

"Well, hello there Emily. My, you look dirty today! I assume you played in the mud, hm? Henry told me everything." he laughed.

Emily was embarrassed.

"I'm going to go back to Tidmouth Sheds now," chuckled James, "I hope you don't mind me telling everybody."

Emily was furious as James chuckled away.

"Well, the mud's all of now," said a workman, "You can go back to the shed."

"Yes sir," gulped Emily and she made her way back to the shed.


End file.
